CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Professor Mills, why did you give these assignments to your students?” asked Erin. “You knew what you were asking of them.”
“I did but Giamanco and Vasily were both holding a lot over my head. A few years ago, I had a relationship with a student. She wasn’t underaged but she was a challenge.”
“What do you mean? Academically?” asked Paige.
“No. Academically she was brilliant which is what attracted me to her. She was mentally unwell. I didn’t know it at the time but she was on a lot of medications and even those weren’t enough to control her behaviors.
“We went to dinner one night, a little place in the mountains so that no one would see us. On the way back, she wanted to drive and I agreed. We started to argue. She was angry that I hadn’t proposed to her yet. I told her I couldn’t do that while she was my student.
“She only got angrier and she started to hit me. The roads are narrow and it was wet from an earlier rain. Before I knew it, the car was spinning out of control and we went over the side of the road into a ravine.
“I crawled out of the car and collapsed in the brush a little ways from the car. When I woke, police were everywhere. They thought she was the only one in the car. I-I should have said something but I couldn’t. I didn’t know who to call.”
“So, you called Giamanco?” said Marissa.
“I knew him from his club,” he said with a shameful expression. “He said he’d take care of everything. He gave me this story that I lent her my car, she drove up the mountain to see friends and drank too much. End of story.”
“Except it wasn’t,” said Erin. “I’m going to guess he started asking for favors after that.”
“Yes. Lots of favors. He wanted me to send women to the yacht, to his club, even men. I told him I would tell the university if it continued. He agreed that we could have one more deal.”
“The assignments,” said Marissa. “But why? Why did he want those assignments given?”
“He didn’t. Vasily did. Giamanco had no scientific acumen at all. Vasily has a moderate level of understanding. Everything I gave all of you, was what he wanted perfected to be used during war. A war he plans to create to have control of the old Russian countries once again.”
“Geez,” said Marissa. “We really walked into shit this time.”
“No, you walked into it,” frowned Paige. “But we’re going to get out of it. Sit, professor. We’re going to look at every assignment, everything you’ve given Vasily to this point.”
“Oh, I haven’t given him anything. That’s why they were coming for me. I sent them a huge packet of material but it was just blank paper. Then I disappeared. Or I thought I did.”
“And Creek?” asked Dana. “What was she working on?”
“Me, I guess,” he frowned. “I thought she was genuinely interested in me. I mean, she certainly played the part. She wasn’t my student. I thought it would be safer seeing a student who wasn’t in my classes. As it turned out, she was sent by Vasily.”
“Alright, let’s look at this information,” said Erin. “Whatever has been done so far, we want to be sure it never reaches the light of day.”
“As it relates to the assignment given to Marissa, she was my most promising student. Brilliant.”
“Thank you but I’m not sure I’m feeling good about that right now,” she smirked.
“No, of course not. Vasily is enamored with the idea of using something similar to the gas chambers that the Nazi’s used. He wanted it smaller, more compact. Something that he could use without being noticed, like a mist, or a balloon that drops the gas.
“I tried to explain to him that it would make the gas unpredictable and probably not have the effect he wanted.”
“Not exactly,” frowned Marissa. “The gas is light, which is why they used gas chambers. Confine the victims, keep the others out, and release the gas. It’s rudimentary but it worked.”
“What did you come up with?” asked Erin.
“A way to make the gas heavier so that it would fall with some precision. It would take a long time to get there but it can be done.”
“Okay, explain,” said Dana.
Over the next three hours Marissa wrote out the formula she’d come up with and the method of delivery suggested. It was at the point of designing the delivery that she realized she couldn’t go through with the assignment.
“Well, I have to say that I’m seriously impressed, honey,” said Erin. “But I also want to say I’m terrified of what could happen if this got into the wrong hands.”
“I know,” she nodded. “We can destroy this. The one good thing the professor did was not accepting anything digitally. It all had to be typed and printed.”
“But even printers have memories,” said Dana. Marissa shook her head.
“No. You don’t understand,” she said. Mills stepped into the conversation.
“The students had to type, on a typewriter. I took nothing off for errors but I wanted it typed and encouraged them to make a copy at a local copy store. Everyone most likely had paper copies of their work.”
“Unfortunately that doesn’t make me feel any better,” said Erin. “Where are those paper copies?”
“I’m not sure. We can ask them,” said Mills.
“Tanner? Do you read me?” asked Paige. Mills frowned at the woman, wondering who she was talking to.
“Professor, let’s go get some coffee and food,” smiled Marissa. They stepped out of the room and Tanner responded.
“Right here, Paige. I heard everything. The nearest copy store to the university would have been in the student union. I’ve already hacked in, deleted any copies in the last year. It can’t be retrieved. I don’t see any signs of anyone pulling the print jobs from the cloud.”
“Fantastic. What do we do about the copies?” asked Dana.
“You’re on your own for that. Get the guys to check with all the students and see if they kept paper copies. If I had to guess, they didn’t. I’ve wiped everything from Marissa’s drive and I have a suggestion for how we can draw Vasily in.”
“I knew you would,” smirked Erin. “Go ahead. We’re all ears.”